President: wine is Georgia's passport to European identity

28 May, 2012

The president of Georgia has said wine exports are to the benefit of Georgia’s national security and an important element of the country's progress.

Mikheil Saakashvili, president of Georgia, said today in Tbilisi: “It is very important that Georgian wine is present in New York, Los Angeles, Europe…In Europe it is a passport of European identity and Christian culture.”

According to reports by the Georgian wine website news.hvino.com, a fortnight ago Saakashvili proposed the creation of a vineyard close to Tbilisi International Airport.

He said: "I asked the municipality to allocate a big land plot next to the airport, where we will create a large vineyard, so that the first thing a guest sees when he[\she] arrives is a vineyard.

“We will give all the guests a small bottle of wine, so they take it back home as a souvenir. We must teach children how to make wine in Georgia. There should not be a single piece of uncultivated land left where a vineyard could be made. I am really fascinated by winemaking. This is part of our national ideology.”

According to news.hvino.com, the president bought a vineyard in the Kakheti region in Eastern Georgia in 2011.





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